MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports, Asia?s leading sports broadcaster, has unveiled a brand new presentation for the upcoming India England cricket series in Hindi on its cricket specific channel Star Cricket.

Star Cricket?s presentation/ production will be based on the theme ? ?Jo baat hindi mein hai, kissi aur mein nahi.... Dekhiye India vs. England 15 Nov se Hindi mein sirf Star Cricket par?.

Star India COO Sanjay Gupta commented, "This is the need of the hour. 85% of the core cricket viewers prefer to watch Hindi content on TV. By providing world class Hindi presentation and commentary we believe this will significantly increase the involvement with the game and have a positive impact on viewership.?

While Star Cricket will telecast the Hindi presentation, Star Sports and Star Cricket HD will have the English version.

Speaking on the occasion, ESPN Software India MD Aloke Malik said, ?We already have lined up an impressive array of cricket experts who we feel will provide a sharp, incisive and engaging view of the game. Viewers who are keen to watch the action with English commentary can catch the action on Star Sports or Star Cricket HD."

To build up its new offering, the sports broadcaster has lined up experts who will do commentary as well as studio analysis on every match day. The list includes former cricketers like Kapil Dev, Ramiz Raja, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Saurav Ganguly, Arun Lal besides noted cricket journalist Ayaz Memon amongst others.

The India England series, which is currently underway, involves four Test matches, two T20 matches and five ODIs.

MUMBAI: Sony Six, Multi Screen Media?s sports channel, has inked a three-year deal with National Basketball Association (NBA) to become the sole broadcast partner of the American professional basketball league in India.

The broadcast rights were earlier shared between Sony Pix, the English movie channel from MSM, and Zeel-owned sports broadcaster Ten Sports.

Sony Six, which has Indian Premier League (IPL) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as its tent pole properties, has identified NBA to attract young audiences towards the sports and entertainment channel.

The sportscaster sees a fit with the property and feels it can develop it in India through aggressive marketing which includes drawing on Bollywood?s popularity to attract new audiences.

"Our study shows that the youth want new sports which are fast paced in nature and Basketball is a fast paced sport. We see huge opportunity to build NBA in India and have big plans to promote it," MSM CEO Man Jit Singh tells Indiantelevision.

The comprehensive partnership with Sony Six will include live NBA games, original programming, and a joint commitment to host grassroots basketball events on the ground.

The two partners will create customised local programming and will focus on engaging Indian youth by bringing together talent from the NBA, Sony Entertainment and Bollywood.
Before Ten Sports and Sony Pix, ESPN Star Sports (ESS) was the long standing broadcast partner for NBA in India but decided not to renew its partnership due to poor viewership. Singh, however, is unfazed.

"NBA was never promoted properly in India. Our plan is to work in tandem with NBA to promote the sport by bringing in NBA players, through college festivals, and 3x3 Basketball that will have NBA players pitted against basketball fans," he added.

Singh feels NBA is a viable sport for the broadcaster in the long run but in the short-term it will invest in the sport. "It is definitely a viable property but we are looking at it from an investment point of view," he asserted.

He did not see any issue with the timing of NBA games which are generally aired early in the morning, "Every sport fan wants to watch a game live. However for those who can?t watch NBA games early in the morning we have repeats in the prime time," he reasoned.

Apart from IPL, UFC and NBA, Six has also identified racquet sports and football to build the channel even as it continues to evaluate cricket boards that are coming up for renewal. MSM has also placed bids for English Premier League rights which are currently held by ESS.

The broadcaster had unsuccessfully bid for England Cricket Board and West Indies Cricket Board rights which were eventually retained by incumbent broadcasters, ESPN Star Sports and Taj Television respectively.

Most of the cricket rights are locked in excluding Sri Lanka Cricket Board, Pakistan Cricket Board, Bangladesh Cricket Board and New Zealand Cricket.

"We will certainly bid for properties as and when they come up. Having said that, we are not going bid crazy amounts," Singh averred.

NBA India Senior Director Business Development & Partnerships said the reason the league decided to partner Sony Six was because of its overall package they offered which includes favourable time slot and other on-air and on-ground initiatives that are critical engaging fans.

"We spoke to different broadcasters but Sony Six was the one who presented the most comprehensive partnership. They were willing to partner not just on the air but on the ground as well," Jain said.

"They are giving us a favourable timeslot on air. Besides matches, they will air magazine shows and highlights. They will also have local content by showcasing the basketball scene in India. They will also have instructional content for coaches and players."

Sony Six will air live NBA games each week on Thursday, Friday and Sunday with replays in prime-time. The Sunday game will be the "Game of the Week" featuring the NBA game airing at noon or 1:00 pm ET in the U.S.

In total, fans in India will have access to 72 NBA regular season games, up to 18 NBA Playoff games, the Eastern and Western Conference Finals, the NBA Finals and NBA All-Star events including the All-Star Game, All-Star Saturday Night, and the Rising Stars competition.

The NBA and Sony Six will also create a weekly NBA lifestyle program and a series of instructional vignettes that will help educate fans on the rules of the game and basketball terminology.

Apart from metros, NBA will also work with Sony Six to viewership in second and third tier cities.

"The aim is to showcase the NBA experience and lifestyle. We will package elements from this and create a platform. We will be doing marketing activities to create awareness about the partnership which includes social media, promos, and contests. Fans will get the chance to go to the US. They will get opportunity to attend games and get Behind The Scenes VIP Access to meet players," Jain added.

MUMBAI: It?s official. The Home Ministry has finally given clearance to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to invite Pakistan for a series, thereby setting the stage for cricket?s biggest rivalry to unfold in December.

For Star India, this could be a bonanza it had been waiting for as a rivalry between the two countries has high revenue value. The Rupert Murdoch company, which has secured the media rights for international cricket played in India, needs to shell out Rs 322.5 million per match for the five match series which includes three ODIs and two T20s. As per contract with BCCI, Star will pay Rs 322.5 million per match for the first two years till 2014 while for the next four years it will pay a whopping Rs 432 million till 2018.

With government clearance in hand, the BCCI will now be assured of increased earnings from broadcast rights as the series was not part of the Future Tours Programme finalised by the International Cricket Council.

The event will be broadcast on ESPN Star Sports which is a sister concern of Star India after parent company decided to take control of sports broadcasting joint-venture by acquiring Disney-owned ESPN?s 50 per cent stake.

For ESS, it will be three back-to-back blockbuster cricket properties which includes India-England, India-Pakistan and India-Australia next year.

The series is likely to be played between 25 December-7 January at Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Kolkata. The series will be scheduled between the split tour of India and England involving four Tests, five ODIs and two T20 internationals.

The English team will play the Tests and T20s from 15 November-22 December before going on a Christmas break only to return for a five match ODI series beginning 11 January.

The clearance from Home Ministry will mark the resumption of cricketing ties which have been on a standstill ever since the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. The two countries last played a series in 2007-08 when Pakistan toured India for three match Test matches and five ODIs.

The two teams have faced each other only in multi-team tournmanents which includes the 2011 ICC World Cup and the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup.

MUMBAI: The Asian Le Mans Series has signed ESPN Star Sports and Eurosport Asia Pacific as broadcast partners for the Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l‘Ouest (ACO).

ESS will broadcast highlights of the events across its networks covering television, internet and mobile platforms after each race. The deal includes VOD rights and covers ESPN STAR Sports‘ footprint of 24 countries in Asia.

The division of Eurosport called Eurosport Asia-Pacific, which has a particularly developed network on the Asian continent, will show the 2013 Asian Le Mans Series in 17 countries: South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia, Hong-Kong, The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Australia.

Not only will Eurosport broadcast six 26-minute magazines after each of the six events on the calendar, but it is also studying the possibility of broadcasting some of the races live or slightly delayed. The full programme of live broadcasts will be announced shortly.

S2M Executive Director and promoter of the Asian Le Mans Series Mark Thomas said, "All motor racing fans will be able to follow this rapidly expanding championship, and our teams and partners will benefit from fallout in keeping with their investments. It will also enable the Automobile Club de l‘Ouest to pass on the message to the greatest number of people in Asia about Le Mans-type races, the high level of involvement they require and the technical and sporting values on which they‘re based."

In the near future other agreements with additional television networks will also be announced.

In 2013, the Asian Le Mans Championship will consist of six three-hour events open to the following categories: LM P2, Formula Le Mans, LM GTE, FIA GT3/Super GT 300 and GTC.

Three rounds will be held in China (Zhuhai, Shanghai, Ordos) and the other three in South Korea (Autopia, 4 August), Japan (Mount Fuji, 21 September) and Indonesia (Sentul, 8 December).

The full Asian Le Mans Series calendar will be announced at the FIA World Endurance Championship round in China (25-28 October) of which the Automobile Club de l‘Ouest is the promoter and organiser.

MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports has launched its first ever round the clock football television channel Fox Football Channel in Malaysia, featuring more than 500 league matches from a comprehensive mix of top football leagues around the globe.

Fox Football Channel makes its debut in Malaysia through Telekom Malaysia‘s first IPTV service HyppTV Channel 173, which is available exclusively on UniFi, giving football fans a comprehensive mix of live matches, highlights and magazine shows and football news updates around the games.

ESPN Star Sports MD Peter Hutton said, "We‘re very happy to be part of the first ever sports pack on HyppTV and are delighted to launch our first Fox branded sports channel in Asia. Round the clock football content from the top international leagues is a great way to begin and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with HyppTV."

The channel will feature live Spanish La Liga BBVA matches, weekly coverage of top games from Argentina‘s Primera Divisi?n, the Eredivisie Dutch League and the Russian Premier Liga, as well as matches featuring Manchester City and Chelsea.

In addition, the channel will also feature weekly highlight shows, as well as in-depth and comprehensive coverage from official club channels Manchester City TV and Chelsea TV. Fans can also stay up-to-date with ‘Fox Football Updates‘ aired during the day with the latest football news and highlights from all over the world.